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E DECEMBER 14, 1899. TOBIN BRONZE “a REPORT OF THE WATERWAYS COMMISSION. The report of the Deep Waterways Commissioners was com- pleted this week and forwarded to Secretary Root at Wash- ington. The report contains valuable, important and inter- esting data, including the researches of the commissioners during the past two years relative to the Great Lakes, their levels and characteristics. The subject has been taken up from the broadest standpoint and the report is far more com- plete than has been usually submitted by commissions of this nature nothing being left to speculative engineers who might : follow the present commissioners. In addition to the report is a compact statement summing up the situation, and supplementing data secured after the completion of the report proper. This is probably all that will ever be read by the members of Congress, to whom the “matter is referred, and the commissioners have incorporated in the supplemental statement all that is necessary to Have the intention of the commission thoroughly understood. The bill introduced a day or twoago by Congressman Corliss authorizing the construction of the dam to prevent the escape of water from Lake Erie, asks for $800,000 to be made immediately available for the erection of the regulat- ing works as proposed. This amount will in the judgment of the engineers, cover the entire cost of the regulatiug works unless the proposed canal to Lake Ontario is incor- porated in the improvements. This would add considerable expense and would delay the construction of the dam. For this reason it would probably be made a future issue. ee MECHANICAL STOKERS. The lake cargo steamer, Pennsylvania, has been fitted up with mechanical stokers by the American Stoker Com- . pany, and has been submitted to trials by two officers of the TNs ance te United States Navy. The hull dimensions of the Pennsyl- vania are 450 ft. over all 50 ft. beam, and a draught of 18 ft., at which her displacement is 10,153 tons. The engines are of the quadruple-expansion type, designed for a maxi- mum of 1,600 i. h. p., and are supplied with steam at 250 lbs. pressure by two Babcock and Willcock water-tube marine type boilers, which have a total weight of 145,860 lbs. emp- ty, and contain 33,492 lbs. of water. The stokers are of the underfed class, the fuel being pushed into the furnace from the hopper by meansof a screw conveyor working below the level of the grates. As the fuel is fed forward the fresh coal is pushed up from below, and causes the partly burnt fuel, ashes, etc., to flow over on to the side grates, where the -combustion is completed. The fuel used on the trials, of which eight were made, five being each of six hours’ dura- tion, was an inferior grade of slack coal containing a large percentage of refuse, yet the report of the tests states that steam was well maintained throughout, and smoke was prac- THE MARINE RECORD. tically absent, save when the fires are being ‘‘sliced’’ or clinkered. The evaporative efficiency was excellent, being equivalent to 8.8 lbs. of water from and at 212 deg. Fahr. per pound of coal, which was of poor quality. Experiments are being still further conducted and it is considered that more perfect applicances will result in the near future. Mr. Robert Logan, Cleveland, a consulting engineer, has much to do with the most recent tests and mechanical changes in the present stoker. re oro ACTIVITY IN COAST SHIPYARDS. In his annual address before the Society of Naval Ar- chitects and Marine Engineers, read in his absence, Clem ent A. Griscom, president, said: ‘‘The large number of vessels purchased by the Government last year for the use of Army and Navy, together, with increasing use of steam vessels in the coasting trade, has produced the greatest activity ever seen in our coast ship yards, both on the Atlan- tic and Pacific oceans. The orders for large steel steam vessels now taken exceed largely those of any year in our history. The record on the Great Lakes is such as to tax the capacity of the ship yards of that district until the fall of 1900, There are now building or to be built on the Lakes, 26 steel vessels of large size of an aggregate value of about $8,000,000, and an aggregate carrying capacity of 154,000 gross tons. These vessels comprise, one passenger vessel, two steel barges at 7,000 tons capacity each, five steamers of 3,000 tons capacity, suited to trade between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic seaboard, and 18 steam freight vessels of about 6,000 tons capacity. We have also witnessed in the past year the entrance of lake shipbuilders into the Atlantic trade. On the seacoasts we have the unusual condition of nine steamships building for ocean commerce. At least nine large steamers, recently built, have been added to the coasting or West India trade in the past year.” ON the occasion of a ship springing a leak, her pumps are set to work to get the water out as fast as it comesin. In- stead of this, it is suggested by a writer in the American Machinist, that air pumps be used to force air into the leaky compartment and thus force the water back through the hole where it entered. There is, it is remarked, a means of expelling water from the filled compartments so obvious as to render it a matter of wonder that engineering skill has not put forward the plan, simply to close the hatches of the flooded compartments and drive the water out by forcing air in ; nor would it make the slightest difference how large the holes might be in the bottom, as the water would be expell- ed and kept out on the same principle as the old-fashioned $3 NOTICE TO MARINERS. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA—NORTHERN LAKES AND RIVERS—MICHIGAN, TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE LIGHT-HousEe BoaRD, WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 6, 1899. GRAND TRAVERSE LIGHT STATION. Notice is hereby given that, on or about December 20,¢ 1899, a 10-inch steam whistle will be established at this station, on the northwesterly extremity of Light-House Point, westerly side of the entrance to Grand Traverse Bay, northeasterly part of Lake Michigan, to sound, during thick or foggy weather, alternate blasts of 3 and 6 seconds’ dura- tion separated by alternate silent intervals of 12 and 24 sec- onds, thus: Silent Silent Blast interval Blast interval s nthmnanimitieatedl <—SS 3 sec. 12 sec. 6 sec. 24 sec. The fog-signal building is a buff-brick house, with red roof and a tall chimney, and stands 160 feet S. 42° W. (SW. & S.)from the light tower. By order of the Light-House Board : FRANCIS J. HIGGINSON, : Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy, Chairman. OFFICE OF THE LIGHT-HousE INSPECTOR, 9TH DIST., CHICAGO, ILL., December 11, 1899. LIGHT VESSHLS—Notice is hereby given that light-vessels Nos. 55, 56 and 57, Straits of Mackinaw, Lake Michigan, and light-vessel No. 60, Green Bay, were directed to remain on their stations until December 10, 1899, and later if the lives of the crews and the government property are not en- dangered. LicHt-HovusE ESTABLISHMENT, Due notice will be given when the light-vessels have left - their stations for the winter. By order of the Light-House Board. F. M. SyMonps, Commander, U. S. N. Inspector 9th L. H. District. ee A Chicago dispatch states that the total lost list on the Great Lakes this season amounts to Ioo, of which number 51 occurred by the foundering of vessels, and 32 persons lost overboard, while 6 were killed by falling through open hatchways. Six passengers on lake steamers committed suicide by jumping overboard. The Niagara disaster last week is the worst of the season. Lake Erie furnished only one other of importance, the foundering of the steamer Margaret Olwill on June 29th, by which nine lives were lost. Although Erie is the shallowest and usually considered the most dangerous of the lakes, Huron leads this year in the number of wrecks, with two schooners foundered and one which wus sunk in a collision, the three disasters involving the loss of fourteen lives. The list of fatalities is this year the largest in several years, but the property loss is the low- est in a decade. The dreaded fall season has been remark- ably free from wrecks, the loss of the Niagara being the only serious casualty reported up to date for the fall season. (Trade-Mark Registered. Tensile strength of plates one-quarter inch thick, upward of 78,000 Ibs, per square inch. Torsional strength equal to the best machinery steel. Non-corrosive in sea water. Can be forged at cherry red heat. Square and Hexagon Bars for Bolt Forgings, Pump Piston Rods, Yacht Shaftings, etc. Rolled Sheets and Plates for Pump Linings and Condenser Tube Sheets, Centerboards, Fin Keels and Rudders, diving bell. Round, Send for Pamphlet. Ansonia Brass & Copper Co, SOLE MANUFACTURERS, 99 John St., NEW YORK. MARINE ENGINES, PROPELLER WHEELS, DECK HOISTERS, 1 eS S , @ 312 ATWATER STREET, DETROIT, MICH. ' Chas. E. & W. F. Royal Insurance Building, Chicago, Il. C. T. BOWRING & CO. London, England. 58 William Street, New York City. 5 and 6 Billiter Avenue, E. C., - ’ BROWN & CO., - - - 202 Main Street, Buffalo, N. Y. PARKER & MILLEN, 15 Atwater Street, W., Detroit, Mich. 138 Rialto Building, Chicago, Ill. LA SALLE & CO., Board of Trade Building, Duluth, Minn. Are prepared to mcke rates on all classes of Marine Insurance on the Great Lakes, both CARGORS AND HULLS. Peck, Chicago Office, ROYAL INSURANCE BLDG, AN ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDER- WRITERS’ INTERESTS AS REGARDS WRECKED AND DAMAGED PROPERTY AT SEA. Application for the services of surveyors of this Association may be made to either the Chicago or New York offices. New York Office, MUTUAL LIFE INS. CO. BLDG.